Honouring litterateurs in the evening of life

The Himalaya Sahitya, Sanskriti Evam Paryavaran Manch, Shimla, headed by writer SR Harnot, has been honouring litterateurs, who are still writing at an advanced age. This year it made a beginning by introducing “Award to Young Writers” and their choice for the first among the many twinkling stars fell on Dr Priyanka Vaidya, a lecturer in English at Nalagarh. Those who received the Lifetime Achievement Awards were octogenarians RC Sharma and OC Handa (see photo).

Ramesh Chandra Sharma, a recipient of the award, was born on March 21, 1929, at Taksaal near Kalka to a vaidya father Pandit Mahesh Dutt Sharma. Ramesh carried the name of his village to Shimla when he constructed a beautiful cottage and named it Taksaal House. Badri Singh Bhatia, a prolific writer of the state, read his achievements on the day and said, “Ramesh Chandra Sharma is humble, a clear, logical and patient listener; he uses soft emotions in his writings, mirrors knowledge in his talks and presents his views in discussions with a sure footing. He loves long talks dotted with references related to his life-experiences.” He has rightly summed up Ramesh Chandra Sharma in calculated words.

His novel ‘Barf ki Raakh’ won the top honours in the state academy’s competition. Another novel ‘Paanchaali’ bagged the Shri Chandra Dhar Sharma Guleri Award.

Influenced by the writings of Amrita Pritam and Harivansh Rai Bachchan, he has written books in all disciplines. I know him since long when he was Deputy Commissioner in Kinnaur and then as editor of ‘Guardians’, the magazine of the bureaucrats. I stepped into his shoes as the editor of this magazine but I admit that I could never touch his heights.

He reads the Vignettes that I write for The Tribune and often does critical-analysis of my writings. I love him and like Badri Singh and others wish him a very long and fruitful life while his pen continues to flow. And why can’t it be? On the day he got the award, he told me that he would revive the faded literary sittings that some of the writers of Shimla used to have in the past. Amen.

I know Dr Om Chand Handa, another recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award since 1980s. He had joined as curator of Shimla Museum when I was heading the Directorate of Language and Culture. He is a resourceful writer and has about 30 books in his name and published 500 articles in national and international journals. The names of his books puts one in awe: Western Himalayan Folk Arts; Lahaul and Spiti - The Land of Paradoxes; Art and Architecture of Uttarakhand; Himalayan Rock Art; Kullu - Its Early History, Archaeology and Architecture; The Colours of Earth - A Study of Indian Folk Painting and many more.

He was born on the day the entire nation celebrates the birth of two of its great personas – Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. Born to father Goverdhan Das on October 2, 1936, in Mandi, Om Chand Handa did Ph.D from Meerut and D.Lit from Agra University. Today, he is a known scholar of history, archaeology and culture of the Himalaya region. Nem Chand Ajnabi, working on Pahari culture, read his achievements and disclosed that Om wrote a commended poem in English when he was only 13. Certainly, the coming events cast their shadows before. I have seen him drowned in scholastic work surrounded by books in a room on top of Dhalli tunnel. May this zest stay with him forever!

Ladies do not tell their age, so I come direct to Dr Priyanka Vaidya’s achievements which were spoken of by Dev Kanya, another budding and enthusiast writer. Priyanka has three poetry books to her credit - Little Life, Long Journeys; Some drops from Dalit Desert and Lotus Rises in Mud. She, like other writers has list of Awards, but what matters is that despite her green shoulders, she has presented and published 70 papers of national and international acclaim. Recently, she had been to England twice to present papers on ‘Kalchakra and Karmyoga in Waiting for Godot’ and another one on ‘Diaspora Literature’. The beginning of the innings is grand and we wish her to score continuously.

TAILPIECE

Dieting is the only game where you win the award when you lose.

— The writer is a retired bureaucrat